X4 | Badge of the Month | March 2026

Get XM Expert certified! 
Making the investment to get certified, and stay that way, is a good way to ensure you know all the little nuances (even the ones you might not be leveraging today, but could in future) as well as stay abreast of the little nitty things that change as the platform is enhanced… so you’re less likely to find yourself on the wrong side of “oh wait it doesn’t work that way anymore”

Best Practice: Always test your survey multiple times (covering all possibilities) before launching—especially when scripting and complex logic are involved.

Make sure to gather all dashboard requirements upfront, as complex dashboards may require adjustments to embedded data or survey question design. Planning ahead helps avoid rework and ensures smoother reporting later.

I agree.  Very helpful tips and insights

Best practice: I use the below check list before running all my surveys (I use Qualtrics for academic research):

• Include attention check
• Check images size should be within 100kb
• Check monetary denomination alligns with your participants
• Ensure Force response for all questions
• Ensure correct coding for all answer options
• Run pilot
• Clear all data and Rrset all counts to zero

Share What You're Experimenting With
One of my initial experiments post-Qualtrics implementation was to find a way to send leaver checklists to our people who were leaving the company. At the time, a limitation was that our HRIS could only send notifications once a termination was approved, which didn’t happen until a few days before a person’s last day. 

This wasn’t ideal as we wanted to person to get the checklist as soon as HR confirmed their were leaving. Using a combination of Qualtrics workflows and pulling workflow data from our HRIS, I was able to provide Qualtrics with a list of those who were leaving as soon as HR approved, which was weeks before they left. 

A perfect use case for both a leaving checklist and an exit survey. 😃

Three best practices I’ve been following over the last couple of years:

1. Basecamp Learning – I make it a point to go through Basecamp courses regularly and try to learn as much as I can from them. It has really helped me strengthen my fundamentals.
2. XM Community – Whenever I face an issue, the first place I check is the XM Community. Most of the time, I either find a direct solution or at least get a direction that helps me figure it out. 
3. Learning from Surveys – Earlier, I used to ignore feedback surveys, but now I actively take as many as I can across different platforms. It gives great insights into how surveys are designed, which I then try to apply in my own work.

Also, if you get a chance, do attend X4. There’s a lot to learn from it and it’s a great experience overall. I’m personally looking forward to attending it someday.

​@bench, this sounds like a powerful use case that many working in HR would want to know more about! Consider creating a post about your strategy and implementation 💡

Share What You're Experimenting With

We learned last week from another PSE user that you can set up a “backway in” for students who can’t find their personalized emailed link! We have two surveys coming up soon where we will try the authenticator using their student ID.

If you are helping others (new to Qualtrics) to build a rather complex survey, check with them on how the survey should be presented first through a call or face-to-face meeting.

It may smoothen the building/tweaking process and save quite a lot of time and effort between the back-and-forth email conversation.

I have found that engaging early and often to collaborate on the build helps prevent issues down the line. Qualtrics is much easier when you get it right the first time rather than trying to modify an existing project when scope or needs change. 

Totally agree. Also be aware that building a dashboard is not an easy task. It takes time and careful attention to the details of your data!

Hi Everyone, 

I am new to the community, and for this to be my 1st monthly topic has been extremely helpful, I intend to soak up all your thoughts and tips! 

Best Practice Tip: Whilst I am new to the Qualtrics space, I am no stranger to learning new things. I guess my tip for anyone else who is new to this space would be to take the time to explore the community, read what other people are doing and saying. I can already see that this space is a gold mine for information and I intend on slapping on some denim overall and going gold panning quite often! 

Recommend a Basecamp Course: Might be cliche, but the Qualtrics Planform Essentials course I did yesterday was the perfect introduction. It was well paced and I didn’t find myself overwhelmed by information. The best part was the background on good survey planning and the process of Insight > Impact > Action.

Looking forward to continuing my learning journey, and if you see my like/reply to a post from a few years ago, I promise it’s not because I am stalking your feed ;)

Share What You're Experimenting With

Generating custom QR codes with Encrypted Embedded Data

We have been using Qualtrics as a custom link generator for a few of our projects where we want to have staff create custom survey links on-the-fly. They typically gather patient information, create a custom survey link for that patient, and have all of the patient information encrypted. 

More recently one of our data architects upgraded our link generator process to also generate custom QR codes that can be immediately scanned (and still pass all the patient information through securely). So in this use case, we have a check-out desk staff enter a patient identifier into the Qualtrics-based link generator, then a list of recent appointments for that patient populate a dropdown list (using the auto-complete feature associated with a supplemental data source of recent appointments, which is updated daily via API). Then they hit submit and the next page shows a QR code that they can scan on a clinic iPad and hand over to the family to complete. The link in the QR code includes the encrypted patient/appointment information, which is then loaded in as embedded data in the survey. 

Share a Best Practice : Implemented Exit survey workflow in lifecycle project. 1.) When leaver fill the exit survey » 2.) Notification go to HR partner » 3.) This notification have link to associate answers and a open end question for HR to fill meeting notes » 4.) HR do exit interview with associate » 5.) Fill the same survey with only 1 open end question after reviewing summary of associate answers.

All data is stored in same survey so associates answers and meeting notes can be visualized in same lifecycle dashboard

Share What You're Experimenting With
As we continue to experiment with adding more forms and processes in Qualtrics, we have spent time editing the custom CCS to ensure our forms look like forms rather than surveys. This has made a huge difference for the user and for the process owner, as most of them were stuck in the mindset that it needed to look like a form. 

Better late than never — X4 may be over, but keep these in mind for next year! 😄

👟 Wear comfortable shoes. The venue is huge and you'll be on your feet all day.

📱 The mobile app is your best friend. Take time to explore it before you arrive — it'll save you a lot of confusion on-site!

See you at X4 2027! 🚀

Using the question label option makes the field names in D&A much cleaner without it, the complete question text would appear as headers.

Practice tip: Whenever you interact with a brand, take a moment to analyze the customer journey and be sure to complete any surveys. It can be very inspiring, even when they’re in a different industry, to learn from their successes… and their mistakes 😉

I agree with this wholeheartedly! Take a look at what other industries are doing with their experiences and learn from them. An experience, or something similar, that works in a different industry can work for yours, so scan the horizon and use what works. I’ve been pleasantly surprised when I have done this and found some great ideas in unexpected places

Hey Everyone

Share a Best Practice

• X4: Make sure you take the time to register for sessions when the app go live as sessions can fill up quickly. 
• Qualtrics: One of the best ways to become acquainted with what is possible in Qualtrics is just adding a blank page in your dashboard and playing with different widgets and setups to see what is the best way to visually display your data from your end users. Each time i meet a new Qualtrics user I tell them to take the time to play around. Even then make sure it makes sense for your end user and not just your preference.

Share What You're Experimenting With

• Combining historical open ended surveys responses from users interacting with Conversational Feedback. Thanks to the X4 Basecamp i got some great help to Coalesce fields in order to keep 1 widget on my dashboard for end users. (https://www.qualtrics.com/support/survey-platform/data-and-analysis-module/data/add-new-fields/combining-fields/#Coalesce)

What a great opportunity to learn from each other and share valuable insights!

The question that resonates most strongly with me is probably the bottom one - Share What You're Experimenting With.

As a firm believer in the concept of frameworks and methodologies based on 'best practices' I've been exploring and learning about a development that should sound familiar with many in this audience - XLAs or Experience Level Agreements advocated by the similarly named XLA Institute. 

The XLA Institute's approach is to shift the focus from fulfilling service targets to ensuring the service outcomes are achieved. In other words moving from a service entric outputs to human centric outcomes by measuring and managing the service experience. In addition to one being able to get formally certified (Foundation or Practitioner) the Institute are also progressing on standardising this Experience Management practice into an international ISO standard. 

To my mind the XLA approach overlaps to an important degree with the Qualtrics' XM aims. But that's just me ;-) What about you?
 

Great tips, team! If you haven’t shared your experience, there’s still time before I close the topic!

Excited for April’s topic! It’ll have our community feeling gooood 👀